


A Touch of Editing

by Meimi



Category: Tales of Vesperia
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-15
Updated: 2013-02-15
Packaged: 2017-11-29 09:24:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/685374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meimi/pseuds/Meimi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little proofreading to pass the time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Touch of Editing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [freezingrayne](http://freezingrayne.dreamwidth.org/) at [newgameplus](http://newgameplus.dreamwidth.org/).

" _After a long, arduous battle, the group of intrepid heroes finally laid to rest the misguided schemes of the doomed Commandant._ Misguided? No. No, that really just does not work when describing Alexei," Rita muttered absently as she took a pen to the manuscript she'd been reading. "He was an arrogant, murderous madman. Crazy, insane, megalomaniacal, dumber than a sack full of perverted old men-- all of the above work so much better in describing that nut and his singularly unique brand of reality."

"You think so?" Estelle asked curiously as she returned from the kitchen, carrying a plate stacked with her newest attempt at sugar cookies. It was one of Yuri's recipes; and while he was an excellent cook when it came to sweets, it had taken her several attempts to get the results to a point where they didn't make her teeth ache from the vast quantities of sugary goodness. How the man's own teeth hadn't rotted out completely yet was a mystery to them all.

"Of course!" Rita said sharpy as she looked up from the handwritten pages. "The world domination crap was bad enough, but what he tried to do with **you** and the Entelexia was completely unforgivable. The man was a lunatic of the highest order."

"I don't know," Estelle murmured thoughtfully, almost to herself. "He might've once had good intentions, but the further along he went the more they got laid to the wayside until all that was left were visions of a future that could never come to pass."

"Very poetic, but you're much too kind," Rita grumbled as she returned her attention to the manuscript. "Commandant Alexei was a sadistic bastard who liked causing people pain. He _enjoyed_ hurting you; and he certainly got his jollies out of forcing you to fight Yuri. And don't forget what he did to the old man either. Definitely not someone deserving of anyone's pity."

Estelle winced at the reminder. "You're right, I don't think I could ever forget that. I just wish things had been different. Maybe if **I** had been different I could have changed things. I was in line for the throne, but I never really thought about what that meant. Perhaps things would have turned out for the better if I had actually tried to exercise the influence that position awarded me."

"Don't be ridiculous, he needed your power to raise Zaude. He would've used you regardless of how well off you were. Besides, you're fine just the way you are," Rita muttered absently as she flipped a page. "Better a novelist living out here in Halure than an empress stuck up there in that eyesore of a palace."

"Thank you," Estelle whispered softly, a smile of elation curving her lips at the unexpected compliment.

"Just stating the obvious," Rita said blandly, only half paying attention as she marked a few more places on the next handful of pages. She'd forgotten how much had happened during their race to _save the world_ from itself; there just hadn't been enough time to store all of the pit stops and stumbling blocks into memory. And frankly, most of them hadn't been all that grand either, though Estelle certainly had a knack for making it sound that way. Of course, there were a few things deliberately left out of the story. People just didn't go around leaving clues about certain murders for anyone to run across. No, Yuri might be an adult --sort of-- and willing to face the consequences of his actions should the truth get out, but the rest of them weren't. They'd already had to face the prospect of him being dead once already and none of them wanted to revisit that place again anytime soon. He was staying right where he was.

Speaking of which...

"So where's all the stuff about Yuri's stupid stunt?" Rita asked curiously as she studied the next few pages and came up empty. "You've got all the Zaude crap, a few mentions about Flynn searching for his _wife_ , and then you skip ahead to the capital. Did I miss it somewhere?"

Estelle grinned at the crack over Flynn and Yuri's "relationship", but shook her head at the question. "It's not in there."

Rita glanced over at her in confusion. "Why not?"

"Because I don't know what happened," Estelle stated plainly and shrugged.

"He didn't tell you?"

Estelle shook her head again helplessly. "I'm afraid not."

"Well get Flynn to tell you," Rita huffed in annoyance, "The jerk owes us that much, making us worry like that."

"Flynn doesn't know either," Estelle explained as she picked sadly at one of her cookies. They'd gone through so much hardship together and trusted each other implicitly with their very lives; but even now he still wouldn't tell any of them what had happened to him at Zaude. It was... worrisome. Yuri tended to be honest about most things, or at least he'd fess up once he'd been caught out on something. But in this he remained silent, and that was never a good thing when it came to Yuri Lowell. When he went quiet, somebody usually ended up dead.

"Ugh, _fine_!" Rita groused as she tossed the stack down, flopped back in her chair, and crossed her arms in supreme irritation. "I'll just threaten to set his hair on fire the next time I see him. _That_ ought to get him talking."

Estelle chuckled at the mental image that suggestion produced. Yuri didn't really preen about it, not noticeably at least, but it was hard to miss the fact that his hair always looked perfect regardless of the time of day. Rita's threat would be taken seriously, there was no doubt about that.

Sighing, Rita forcibly bottled up her bubbling annoyance, closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Better to save it for later and unleash it on the person who deserved it. "You know, it's strange," she said after a moment spent listening to the peaceful quiet of Halure, "I never thought I'd be able to adjust to so much silence. Aspio was always ringing with some project or another, and the explosions from botched experiments were pretty frequent too."

"You... don't like it here?" Estelle asked hesitantly, a frown crossing her face as she clasped her hands together in apprehension. She had hoped Rita would be happy living with her, but perhaps her own hopes hadn't been quite enough. Maybe...

"Well, I'd rather it be Aspio, but as long as you're here then it's home," Rita replied bluntly. "Besides, unlike those imbeciles at the capital, I don't need a huge lab to do my research in. My old house worked fine, and this one works even better."

Estelle smiled beatifically as her mounting concern were neatly laid to rest. "I'm glad then."

Rita blushed slightly at Estelle's regard, but let it remain at that. They had all the time in the world to do other things, for now things just worked better at a slow, steady pace. Besides, it was nice to not have to over-think things for once. Very nice.


End file.
